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As the world begins to transition away from conventionally sourced petroleum to power our transportation network (cars, trucks, trains, ships, and even aircraft) two main contenders have won favour from investors and the public — Electric powered Vehicles (EV’s) and Hydrogen powered Vehicles (HEV).

Both show great promise, but at this point in time they report different results. There is no doubt that the EV has charged well ahead of its nemesis the HEV, but Toyota and Hyundai are making rapid progress on their Hydrogen powered vehicle programmes.

Electric Vehicles are called EV, while Hydrogen powered vehicles are called HEV (Hydrogen Electric Vehicle) — as both use electricity to power the vehicle, but source the onboard electricity via different methods.

Both EV’s and HEV’s produce electrical power to power an electric motor, which is what drives the car. EV’s get their electricity from the batteries in the car, while Hydrogen powered vehicles get their electricity from passing Hydrogen and Oxygen through a fuel cell (while also utilizing a much smaller battery pack) to power the vehicle.

The battle between the two is going to ‘sharpen’ over the next few years, making for a fascinating story for technology buffs and for those interested in a cleaner environment.

This Electric vs Hydrogen infographic is a ‘snapshot in time’ detailing the (today) differences between Electric Vehicles and Hydrogen powered vehicles.

One major impediment to the adoption of electric vehicles is the high cost of public charging stations for EV’s, as the charging units are very expensive.

Ubitricity.de has come up with a novel solution whereby ordinary streetlamps could be fitted with an electric vehicle charging point for the reasonable cost of 500 to 800 euros per streetlight, which is certainly more doable than the 10,000 euros of your typical EV public charging station in Europe.

Streetlamps in selected cities within Germany are now being fitted with a charging point allowing electric vehicle drivers to recharge their car battery.

Drivers prepay the cost of the electricity via Ubitricity to charge at these locations. Ostensibly, every streetlamp post and parking meter in Europe could be fitted with one of these charging points.

Not only do German drivers have the option of charging their EV’s at home, now they can now pick up a charge while they shop, have coffee with friends, or while they spend the day at their workplace.

“We are convinced there is room for this technology to be applied everywhere it’s needed, but we think that in most places there is a pressing need for investment in a charging infrastructure to allow the installation of charging points, not only here on lamp posts, but also in the workplace, at home and in underground carparks.

Governments are keen to cut the number of gas guzzling cars on the roads to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many are offering cash incentives to drivers to buy electric. But take-up has been slow partly due to the lack of charging stations.

There are lots of lamp posts which are already very well connected to the electricity network. Equipping a lamp post costs between 300 and 500 euros, depending on the circumstances at that location. When you consider the production price of our charging sockets, it is a long way from the 10,000 euros which must typically be invested in a charging station.” – Founder of Ubitricity, Frank Pawlitsche

All you need is an Electric Vehicle, your prepaid Ubitricity account and Ubitricity connector cable, and you’re set

Ubitricity portable, streetlight-attachable EV charging unit

The great thing about the Ubitricity parking spots with their electric vehicle recharging connector is that they’re normal parking spots with a charging port added. Your mobile phone app displays the Ubitricity locations.

You can park there all day and return to a car that is fully energized and ready to go! No more petrol stations for you.

It’s a wonderful idea. Streetlamps and parking meters are everywhere it seems and combining a parking spot with an EV charging port is a stroke of genius.

Boy those Germans are smart. Gut gemacht! (Well done!)

Driving electric is a cornerstone of Germany’s Energiewende energy policy

Only when driving on renewables will EV users avoid greenhouse gas emissions — not just locally but on a global scale. Renewable energies and EVs are natural partners of a sustainable energy and transportation sector. — From the Ubitricity website

All TESLA vehicles can access the Ubitricity chargers but don’t forget to bring your Ubitricity charging cable — unlike the TESLA SuperCharger stations where the cable is permanently attached to the SuperCharger unit.

A benefit of TESLA SuperCharger top-ups is that they usually take 10-15 minutes. Look, there’s a Starbucks!

Another benefit is that (TESLA Model S drivers only) enjoy free charging at TESLA SuperCharger stations for the life of the car because that’s what you get for 70,000 euros.

But once your TESLA is charged, you must return to move your car in order to let other TESLA drivers access the SuperCharger, much like gas-engined drivers can’t leave their car in front of the gas pump while they go shopping.

Only the Ubitricity solution gives all EV drivers a convenient parking spot — and a charge. The ability to simply ‘Park and Plug’ at one location in today’s crowded cities is a very big plus indeed.

What a difference a year makes. Electric Vehicles, once a novelty in Europe, seem to have hit the mainstream. No doubt there is still plenty of room to grow as even with the latest sales increase, EV’s only make up only a tiny fraction of the annual 7 million car sales in the European Union.

Overall, EV sales in Europe are up 79% from the same time period last year, although within individual nations there are wide disparities in EV adoption.

NORWAY — Although Norway is not an EU-member-country, it is part of Europe. And the earliest adopter of electric vehicles in Europe is Norway, registering only 2373 EV sales in the first half of 2013.

Now compare that to the 9950 EV sales Norway logged in the first half of 2014. That’s a 302% increase H1 2013 to H1 2014. In a country of only 5 million people that’s a pretty significant sign that EV’s are gaining wider acceptance.

TESLA has just completed the installation of dozens of free-to-use SuperCharger stations in Norway and you can find them in almost every Norwegian city, town and hamlet. A big draw with the SuperCharger system is that a Tesla Model S can fully charge in about 30 minutes from dead flat. Of course, if you’re just ’topping-up’ your Tesla battery you may not have time to finish your latte before you’re on the road again.

Prior to the latest SuperCharger installations, it took some careful driving to drive the length of Norway and not run the battery down, but one can now drive across the entire country of Norway with hardly a thought about charging locations, all of which are easily located on the huge Tesla LED dashboard display.

The most popular EV’s in Norway are the Tesla Model S and the Nissan LEAF.

GERMANY – Posting respectable numbers but nowhere near the example set by Norway, EU-member-nation Germany has almost doubled their first half EV sales compared to the same time period in 2013. German’s bought 2382 EV’s in H1 of last year, ramping up to 4230 in H1 of this year.

United Kingdom — Another European country that is still not part of the EU, the UK registered 1168 EV’s in H1 of 2013, and in H1 of 2014 some 2570 EV’s were registered.

Both the German and UK drivers prefer the Tesla Model S, the BMWi3 and the Nissan LEAF, although the new Renault Zoe is gaining acceptance as a very affordable electric vehicle.

FRANCE – French citizens buy a lot of EV’s, but numbers were slightly down compared to last year. Still, Renault continues to add affordable new EV models to its lineup. In 2013, there must have been a lot of ‘pent-up’ EV demand, as France registered 7293 EV’s in H1 of 2013, but in H1 of this year France added only 6405 Electric Vehicles to the country’s roads.

The most popular EV’s in France are the Renault Twizy, the new Renault Zoe and the Nissan LEAF.

While some countries in the EU could not match (non-EU-member) Norway’s total EV sales, some statistically significant numbers are showing for some EU nations.

The Netherlands for one, zipped up from 437 EV sales in the first half of 2013, to 1149 units in the first half of this year. While Austria went from 252 to 709 H1 to H1 and Belgium went from a lowish 195 first half EV sales up to 629 in H1 of 2014.

Even with all that good news, it’s important to remember that while EV sales are showing dramatic improvements in some European nations, electric vehicles have not yet reached 1% of new car sales.

The one bright spot, now that more EV’s are hitting the roads is that public charging stations are being installed at at phenomenal rate. The Netherlands public charging system is geared to a maximum travel distance of 65 kilometres between chargers. That puts electric vehicles on an even footing with petrol stations in the country.

And, unlike a petrol car, you can always charge your car at home or at the office just by plugging it in to an ordinary wall socket, although this slow-charging mode may take a few hours.

Another positive is that affordable new EV models are hitting showrooms, giving drivers more choices and a wider range of electric vehicles to choose from. With names like Tesla, BMW, Toyota, Nissan, Renault, Volvo, Ford and Porsche solidly behind electrified vehicles, reliability issues are non-existent.

Here are some fun facts for European residents to ponder when considering the switch from a petrol engine car to an electric vehicle.

Here are the petrol prices per litre for some selected European nations, as of August 11, 2014:

Austria — € 1,35

Belgium — € 1,61

Denmark — € 1,71

Finland — € 1,63

Germany — € 1,62

Netherlands — € 1,79

Norway — € 1,89

Portugal — € 1,62

Sweden — € 1,55

United Kingdom — € 1,61

To convert these per litre prices, valued in euros – into their U.S. equivalents, we can use the very rough calculation of 4 litres per US gallon (which is how petrol/gasoline is sold in the United States) and 1.33 USD to 1 euro (current as of August 11, 2014).

For the Norwegian example, we can see that 4 litres of petrol (to roughly equal 1 US gallon) will cost you 7.57 euros – and converting that to US dollars gives you $10.14 per US gallon. Many US citizens use 10 gallons of petrol (or more) every day…

In Austria 1 US gallon of petrol (rough calculation) will set you back $7.18 in US dollars.

For those who elect to charge their EV at home for about 1-3 euros per day, you will have no need to stop at a petrol station and pay up to € 1,89 per litre of petrol, times how many litres you burn per day. And it’s doubtful that petrol prices will be dropping any time soon.

Not only are EV’s pollution-free, reliable and extremely low maintenance – spending 1-3 euros per day to recharge your EV battery at home (or nothing if you charge it at a free-to-use public charging station) vs. 5-10 euros per day for petrol depending on the size of the petrol engine – can really add up over the course of a year.

I strongly suspect that 2015 EV sales numbers will greatly surpass these first impressive baby-steps taken by electric vehicle manufacturers and their customers. By 2020, it would be reasonable to expect a full 10% of new vehicle registrations to be of the electrified vehicle variety.

China’s generous electric vehicle subsidy was rumoured for months to face huge cuts — but the Finance Ministry has lowered the subsidy by only half of what was originally planned (a 5% drop in 2014, and a 10% drop in 2015).

Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturers within and outside of the country had been holding their breath ever since the first hints of a possible subsidy cut trickled out into the press.

However, since the latest announcement electric vehicle manufacturers have been celebrating — including Tesla Motors (TSLA) whose stock values have suddenly surged to a record high of $196 per share. Last year, 35,000 to 60,000 yuan ($5,780 to $9,900 USD) per electric vehicle were paid out in subsidies as the frenetic push continues for cleaner air within China’s smog-choked cities.

China has been on a manufacturing roll in recent years. Even companies that are not based in China choose to manufacture their products in the world’s most dynamic economy. Tesla Motors recently entered the Chinese automotive industry despite legal challenges — and Tesla brass expect the Chinese electric vehicle industry to be as large as, or even larger than that of the U.S.

That doesn’t surprise me, as China has the world’s largest population (1.35 billion in 2012, according to Google), and the world’s largest car market.

Apart from that, Tesla’s stock value could come crashing back down as it did in November of 2013. A 40% decrease occurred in a matter of months, possibly caused by reports of (only) three Tesla Model S fires.

KBA conducted its investigation and came to the same conclusion as Tesla, writing:

“According to the documents, no manufacturer-related defects [herstellerseitiger Mangel] could be found. Therefore, no further measures under the German Product Safety Act [Produktsicherheitsgesetz (ProdSG)] are deemed necessary.”

I would also expect the electric vehicle industry to show strong growth as millions more of China’s citizens begin to enjoy disposable income levels on par with other emerging nations. In the China of 2014, hundreds of millions of people need economical cars today and (literally) millions of others are waiting for the opportunity to buy a luxury car. In some cases, due to the long waiting lists the delivery date for a luxury imported car can take longer than one year in China.

According to the Wall Street Journal, even Rolls-Royce sells more cars in China than they do in most countries, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars per vehicle. China and the U.S. are the most significant markets (as of January 2014) for Rolls-Royce.